Sys tray icons not in use is messed up

[Guest]

When I right click the task bar, choose properties and then the config
button, I get to the place where I can manage the sys tray icons. (Set them
to always hide, hide when inactive or always show.)

Icons that is not in use at the moment is completely messed up. Many of the
original icons is gone and replaced with a Windows folder icon. Some original
icons is still there, but not in the right place. ("Volume" now have a mouse
icon instead of the speaker icon, and so on.)
The top list (icons to programs currently in use) is right.

I have XP Professional, Norwegian edition. I do not have Office or SP2.
What can be causing this strange behavior?

 

[Guest]

Hi, These are Past Items, which, AFAIK, serve no purpose other than to
remind you of what used to be in your notification area but you haven't used
for a while. If you don't want to see them listed use this tweak from Kelly's
site, Line 53 Left Side "Remove Past Items from Notification Area"

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

HTH

Colin.

 

[Guest]

I Recommend you install SP2, to increase your protection on your computer.
You may also want to install "Tweak UI" and repair your icons. Tweak UI is
free from the Microsoft website. Do a search from within the website.

 

[Guest]

I'll take a look at Tweak UI.
I will install SP2, but not this year. Too many people have gotten trouble
after installing it, and I have a higher risk of getting problems because
this is a laptop. An engineer at a pc repair shop adviced me to install SP2
when SP3 is released... but I'll not wait that long.
I use several methods to protect my system, I hope I'm safe without SP2 for
now.
But thank you for your help and advice.

 

[Guest]

After some search I found a little info about PowerToys and Tweakui.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

I have a Norwegian XP, can I use this tools? QUOTE: "PowerToys will only
work with US-English regional settings." -Is this meaning that it works only
with English versions of XP? I'm not sure how to understand this.

I'd appreciat to know what causes this mess with the icons, if anyone of you
have an idea.

 

[Guest]

two relevant issues here . . .
customize notification area (systray icons)
third-party utilities

regarding the issue with customize notification area (systray icons) :
this is a known microsoft issue which has been addressed /
documented by microsoft :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q283084
entitled : "How to Clear Past Items from the Notification Area"
note . . . their "fix" is using reg_edit and is only temporary
(obvious recurrances).

regarding the issue with third-party utilities :
there have been many instances where third-party utilities, such as
tweak_ui and power_toys have greatly interefered with an sp_2
update . . . necessitatin' a new "clean" win_xp install.
if you decide to use these utilities . . . make sure you un-install
them before installin' the sp_2 update.

am also listing several keywords . . . to facilitate future reference
points for consideration / benefit unto others :
(keywords : notifications, notification area, customize notifications
window, systray, icons, microsoft knowledge base article - 283084,
previous article Q283084, traynotify, iconstreams, pasticonstreams, kbenv
kbhowto KB283084, service pack 2, sp2, tweakui, powertoys, regedit)